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Tabi'atstan
Tabi'atstan, officially known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of Tabi'atstan (USSRT) is a country located in the centre of the Toy Islands region, bordering Bordoris, Krakozhia, Muzaffaridistan, StarLand, the TBRE, Trevallyland and East Valreșia. It is a unitary Stalinist single party state formed through the union of five Tabi'atstani socialist states after a succession of communist revolutions. Tabi'atstan is the most populous nation in the Toy Islands, as well as the largest in terms of area. History Pre-contact ancient history The earliest archaelogical evidence of human inhabitants in Tabi'atstan dates back to around 12,000 years ago. The ancient peoples of Tabi'atstan are thought to have come by sea, and were mostly Indo-Iranian in origin. The largest ethnic group, the Tabi'amard, spoke a proto-Iranian language that would eventually evolve into a language similar to those in the Southwestern Iranian language family, although certain tribes like the Ezbath and Kal'Vei spoke other languages. The majority of these ancient peoples lived in small towns in the very south and far eastern parts of the country where the weather was more accommodating towards humans, as the country was mostly made up of either inhospitable desert or extremely cold areas. In fact, the oldest city in the Toy Islands is the city of Baru (now abandoned), which is believed to have been founded circa 4000BCE. Around 1700BCE, the Tabi'amard tribes of Tabi'atstan waged a genocidal war against the other Tabi'atstani tribers that resulted in the destruction of all the native Tabi'atstani peoples save the Tabi'amard (who had instigated the war) and the Kal'Vei. Shortly afterwards in 1561BCE, Shahzada Farnavaz Kazemi led his tribe in a war of unification against the other Tabi'amard tribes. His unification of the different tribes made them a force to be reckoned with in the Toy Islands, but they were also highly xenophobic as one of the ways the Shahzada unified the country was by claiming that Tabi'atstanis had to unite to defend themselves against the Laltofians and Krakozhians surrounding their island continent. This union of Tabi'atstanis quickly collapsed after Shahzada Kazemi's death, as his son was unfit to run the country and corruption was rampant in his royal court, resulting in the War of Fragmentation which lasted from 1516BCE to 1412BCE. Somewhere between 100-300CE, a severe drought hit the Toy Islands, causing food and water to become even scarcer throughout the region, resulting in the Ancient Drought Wars where Tabi'atstani sailors frequently made raids to Grenatia, Toylando and Southern Nordica in order to obtain food items, and possibly even set up colonies there, with mixed successes. Medieval history In 646CE, Shah Payami Maalganj of the State of Maalganj declared war on the Kingdom of Kamdaristan, beginning the Maalganji Wars of Unification. In the winter of 658CE, Maalganji troops had overrun the Kavedhshehri capital of Qubagazi, ending the conflict. Shah Payami Maalganj then announced the foundation of the Grand Monarchy of Kazemostan and crowned himself Shahanshah Maalganj I of the Kazemostani Empire, a reference to Shahzada Farnavaz Kazemi and his unification of Tabi'atstan. After Chinese explorer Lü Mang discovered the Toy Islands in 719CE, Tabi'atstan was colonised by the Persians in 941CE when Shahanshah ‘Adud al-Dawla, Daylamid of Fars of the Buyid Dynasty ordered settlements to be built on the newly discovered island-continent. The native Tabi'atstanis, especially the majority Tabi'amard ethnic group, welcomed the Persians as they considered them to be cultural relatives and an ethnic link to the Old World. This was the beginning of the Persianisation of Tabi'atstan, and by the 12th century, the Tabi'atstani continent was dominated by Persianate societies. When the First Crusade started in 1096, Tabi'atstan was particularly affected as it had a Muslim majority and a large Christian minority. The two factions split along sectarian lines and soon the continent dissolved into religious war. Tabi'atstan also suffered military incursions from NAME, which were Christian states (although these countries also had small Muslim minorities). The end of the First Crusade in 1099 led to a tense peace between the two groups, although discrimination between the two religious factions was still common. The start of the Second Crusade in 1145 again threw the region into chaos, with an attempted Kazemostani invasion of NAME in July 1146 being repulsed by the NAMIAN admiral Mircea Donceanu. When the Second Crusade ended in 1149, the religious and state leaders of the Toy Islands gathered in NAME, where they signed the Treaty of the Pious, a document where the Muslim and Christian factions of the Toy Islands agreed to coexist for the betterment and security of the region. As such, subsequent crusades had little effect on the Toy Islands, although small skirmishes did occur in the region due to the starts of the Third, Fifth, and Seventh Crusades. In 1248, the Tabi'atstani nations united together in their fight to support the Fatimid Caliphate in the Fatimid-Khna Hadastan War, which escalated into a region-wide conflict. On the 29th May 1571, Kingdoms of Xiaoyuan and Xinyue united to become the Empire of Great Liaotang (大辽唐) when King … of Xiaoyuan married Princess … of Xinyue. In 1609, Tokugawa Hidetada of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate invaded the Grand Monarchy of Kazemostan. However, following several defeats by Tabi'atstani forces, the Japanese forces were forced to retreat from Tabi'atstan in 1612. In 1657, the Kazemostani governor of southeast Tabi'atstan, Keyvan Ardar, started a campaign to wipe out Pasheyvun tribesmen that had been attacking trade caravans in the south. By 1665, this campaign had been successful in destroying the military strength of the Pasheyvun people, and confident with the support he had from military generals in the area, Ardar announced the independence of his province from the Kazemostani Empire, sparking the First Kazemostani-Ardaristani War. In 1723, Tsar Peter the Great of Russia ordered several colonies to be established in Tabi'atstan, and negotiated the sale of land to the Russian Empire from the Kazemostani Empire. Russian explorers also scouted areas in Krakozhia and established several small settlements there, but otherwise did not annex any parts of Krakozhia. By February 1725, when Tsar Peter the Great died, the Russian Empire maintained three permanent colonies in Tabi'atstan; in the areas that are now the Novy Rossiya and Kalengelsk provinces, and a smaller colony in Qal’eh Manar. In 1744, the Kazemostani Empire suffered a severe food shortage due to a crop failure in the northern coastal regions of the empire. In response, Shahanshah Jahangir Omid Talebi launched several raids against the Ardaristani Empire in attempt to capture Ardaristani food supplies and help alleviate the food crisis. Ardaristani Shahanshah Bahram Kambiz Ardar I responded with the razing of several Kazemostani border villages, thus sparking the Second Kazemostani-Ardaristani War. On the 5th August 1855, a the Third Kazemostani-Ardaristani War broke out between the Grand Monarchy of Kazemostan and the Ardaristani Empire in Tabi'atstan. The war soon dragged both sides’ vassal states into the fray and the whole of Tabi'atstan was soon consumed by war. Near the end of the war, Kazemostani Shahanshah Hashem Rostam Talebi was killed in the Battle of Ahaj, and he was replaced by Kamran Vahid Nabavi, the son of a palace courtesan. The Third Kazemostani-Ardaristani War ended on the 7th April 1857. In 1862, the United Kingdoms of Sweden-Norway forced the Grand Monarchy of Kazemostan to sign the Treaty of Gulzaran. The treaty was based on the unequal treaty signed between Sweden-Norway and the Qing Dynasty known as the Treaty of Canton, and ceded the islands of Kälsvarike (then known as the Tanzab Islands) to Sweden-Norway. In 1867, Tsar Alexander II of the Russian Empire arranged the sale of the Russian colonies in Novy Rossiya and Qal’eh Manar to the Grand Monarchy of Kazemostan, and the Russian colony in Kalengelsk to the Azeri-Bajiristan Confederation, similar to the sale of Alaska to the United States of America. Although some of the settlers returned to Russia, some of them stayed in Tabi'atstan, and new ideas in Russia were often relayed to the settlers through their relatives and friends living in, who would then tell other Tabi'atstanis about them. In 1887, the Grand Monarchy of Kazemostan appointed Prussian officers to help in the training and modernization of Kazemostani armies, with the Kingdom of Valreșia soon following suit. As part of the deal, the German Empire was given the Sirjahr Islands, now known as Breiseland. This arrangement continued until the start of the Boxer Rebellion in 1899, when Prussian support for Kazemostan stopped due to Prussian suspicion about the foreign Tabi'atstanis. Despite this, Germany continued to occupy Breiseland, although these were returned to Kazemostan after the defeat of Germany in World War I. German and Valreșian military cooperation, however, continued until the start of World War I on the 28th July 1914. In 1904, the Empire of Japan declared war on the Empire of Great Liaotang, capturing the strategic ports of Nangang (July) and Biancheng (December). The war ended in 1908 after Japanese forces were eventually repulsed by Liaotangese troops. Formation On the 12th June 1923, the communist revolutionaries Leonid Sergeiyevich Ushakov and Farshid Khorosani led an uprising against the Grand Monarchy of Kazemostan. In the midst of the fighting Shahanshah Armand Shahin Nabavi attempted to escape but was shot by defecting government troops the next day just outside the capital. On the 15th June, Ushakov and Khorosani announced the Shah's death and proclaimed the creation of the Kazemostani Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Kazemostani SFSR). This encouraged insurgents in other Tabi'atstani nations to rise up against their leaders and sparked the Tabi'atstani Civil Wars. On the 12th February 1925, the final push to capture the fortified city of Payegar was completed, marking the overthrow of all non-communist governments in Tabi'atstan, although the country was by no means ridded of anti-communist and loyalist forces, with small pockets of resistance still existing around the country. On the 28th November 1925, the leaders of the different states of Tabi'atstan signed the Treaty of Qal'eh Manar, thus forming the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of Tabi'atstan, with Leonid Sergeiyevich Ushakov as its first President. A new capital was built at the seaside city of Qal'eh Manar, and the government was based in the STRUCTURE. Interwar era On the 1st December 1925 Leonid Sergeiyevich Ushakov was elected President of the USSRT. Capitalizing on the fact that Stalin was searching for collective security with other nations, President Ushakov flew to Moscow to engage in talks with Stalin regarding economic and military cooperation on the 15th December 1925. With the USSRT being the only other major communist state at the time, Stalin happily agreed to increase economic ties between the Soviet Union and Tabi'atstan, and the two countries signed the Tabi'atstani-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Cooperation on the 30th April 1926, with its signing being a major point of celebration during the May Day festivities in the USSRT. Furthermore, Stalin gave Tabi'atstani engineers access to blueprints and designs of Soviet technical equipment (including both civilian and military equipment) later in the same year. Internally, Ushakov set up a system of collective farming that aimed to allow the USSRT to produce all of its own food. On the 5th May 1932, President Ushakov died of a stroke. The next day, on the 6th August 1932, Farshid Khorasani was voted in as the new Tabi'atstani President. One of his first actions was to promote artists and writers to produce works in the style of socialist realism and socialist classicism in his “Progress for Revolutionary Arts and Creative Works” movement. On the 17th August 1932, President Khorosani also announced the "Industrialise the Nation, Strengthen the People" campaign, the first widespread industrialisation of Tabi'atstan. The program was a success, and despite the war with Japan in 1934, by 1935 Tabi'atstani industrial output had increased by vast amounts. After the Tabi'atstani Civil War, the USSRT government recognised that many nations would be hostile to it due to its communist ideology, and decided to embark on a massive upgrade of its military by buying large amounts of equipment from the Soviet Union. These imports of military equipment arrived just in time for the USSRT-Japanese War in 1934. On 12th November 1934, Japan declared war on Tabi'atstan, with a small Imperial Japanese Navy task unit launching a sneak attack on the Tabi'atstani east coast. The war ended on 19th October 1935 with the signing of the Treaty of Bandar Behesht after the decisive battle of Zavodgrad which resulted in a Tabi'atstani victory. Numerous atrocities were committed by the Japanese in their land invasion of Tabi'atstan, and to this day the Japanese government has been reluctant to admit to these acts, creating a high level of anti-Japanese sentiment in Tabi'atstan, even in modern times. After the end of the Tabi’atstani-Japanese War, the Tabi’atstani Politburo decided that the country was under serious threat from attack from the many nations in the Toy Islands that surrounded Tabi’atstan, thus leading to the decision that the Tabi’atstani military had to receive better funding and needed to be upgraded with the latest military hardware. On the 2nd March 1937, the Tabi'atstani Politburo announced the resignation of President Khorosani, citing his alleged ill health. In reality, he had been forced to retire after the Politburo decided that he was being too soft on TBRE leader Uben Ikroniya. On the 11th May 1937, Saveli Anatolyevich Mihaylov (1937-1962) was elected President of the USSRT after a power struggle with his two main rivals, Parvaiz Khoroushi and Dmitri Matveevyn Kozlov, following the resignation of former President Farshid Khorasani. Khoroushi believed in the Trotskyist idea of permanent revolution and Kozlov had held a grudge against Mihaylov since 1927 since their falling out over Tabi’atstani economic policy. Mihaylov thought that communism should first be consolidated in the USSRT, which could then be used as a starting point to spread communism throughout the Toy Islands, and eventually, the world. Following in the footsteps of Stalin after coming to power, Mihaylov decided to take on the name of “Lyudin”, meaning “man of the people”. Lyudin’s accession to President of the USSRT improved the relations between Tabi’atstan and the Soviet Union. Although the two had had close relations, being the only two major communist powers in the world at that time, Stalin had felt that President Farshid Khorasani was too soft on opposition, and although his work on promoting the style of socialist realism and socialist classicism was admirable, Stalin believed that it was not practical to focus so much effort on culture at the expense of the military and industry. On the 25th March 1938, President Lyudin of Tabi’atstan and Marshall Stalin of the Soviet Union signed the Tabi’atstani-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Technological Alliance and Cooperation. This meant that the USSR and Tabi’atstan would share their technological advancements with no restrictions placed on such transfer of scientific and technical knowledge. World War II After the start of World War II, the USSRT announced its neutrality, and remained neutral even after a declaration of war from Japan on the 23rd June 1939, which was considered an act of revenge after its failure in the Tabi'atstani-Japanese War. Although the Japanese later mostly gave up their attack on Tabi’atstan after a series of defeats in Tabi’atstani territory, the invasion opened the way for a TBRE invasion of the USSRT. Tensions between the USSRT and the TBRE had been instigated by the territorial dispute over Mersonn Island, and the Laltofians was emboldened by the fact that the USSRT appeared to be acting mainly on the defensive. On the 2nd December 1940, TBRE forces crossed the disputed border at Mersonn, whilst Laltofian Confederation and Bordorian troops invaded through Krakozhia. By Christmas, TBRE forces had occupied the entire island, and Krakozhia was taken over by LC and Bordorian troops in August 1941. The combined Laltofian forces made a push to Qal'eh Manar in September 1941 from the Bisamir salient, but by mid-November, the front had stablised as reinforcements from eastern Tabi'atstan were coming into the battle. At the end of November, TBRE troops launched a major offensive to push through southern Tabi'atstani to reach their other Laltofian allies, and by December they had reached Qal'eh Manar, preventing any Tabi'atstani counterattacks. On the 29th January 1942, the Tabi'atstani Third Fleet attacked the Fifth Laltofian Fleet that was escorting a major supply convoy from occupied Krakozhia. Meanwhile, the Tabi'atstani Northeastern Front launched an offensive through the central deserts to cut of limited TBRE supply chains in the south. The resulting logistical collapse meant that Laltofian forces were not receiving much needed food and supplies, especially when Tabi'atstani eastern reinforcements surrounded the sieging Laltofian forces. By May 1943, Laltofian forces had been pushed off of mainland Tabi'atstan and were retreating through Krakozhia in an attempt to hold pre-war borders. Bordorian President-Minister ... ordered Operation Grounded Paws, which led to the wiping out of many Laltofian troops, but caused a frontier to be established at the pre-war border. However, Tabi'atstani troops had invaded Grenatia by June 1943 and concentrated their forces against Teddy troops in Nordwerbaren, with some elite airborne and naval infantry forces making gains in the Toylando province area. Furthermore, the First and Fourth TBRE fleets were sunk at the battle of Eastern Toke, lowering the morale of TBRE defenders and paving the way for another Tabi'atstani offensive. Infrastructure and services collapsed, and Ikroniya's government in Toyland crumbled in August 1943, and an emergency meeting of the upper house was held which gave the Elder-Chair of the upper house powers to negotiate a ceasefire and treaty with the USSRT and her allies. Toyland was successfully taken after a three-day siege on 23rd December 1943. The TBRE signed the Treaty of Rouzab on 14th January 1944, thus starting the Tabi'atstani occupation of the TBRE. Cold War In the immediate postwar era, President Lyudin ordered a massive reconstruction effort to rebuild the country after the Laltofian invasion. Furthermore, the USSRT moved in to set up communist governments in Györmár-Kazvhalia, Krakozhia, Trevallyland and East Valreșia. Stalin’s death on the 6th March 1953 led to concerns in the Tabi’atstani government on the future of Tabi’atstani-Soviet foreign affairs. President Lyudin of the USSRT decided that they should bide their time and wait for the Soviet government to elect a new leader before making any major decisions. However, when Nikita Khruschev rose to become leader of the Soviet Union and gave the “Secret Speech”, tensions rose between the two nations. In response to the Secret Speech, which he considered an attack on Stalinism and thus an attack on Tabi’atstani policy, President Lyudin of the USSRT instituted the “Great National Revolution Against Impure Bourgeoisie Elements”, also known as the Great Tabi'atstani Purge, in July of 1955. This resulted in the killing of around 657,320 people in the USSRT and countless more being detained or sent to the gulags. Lyudin also put into place a new constitution that, among other things, replaced the numerous SSRs and ASSRs with provinces and transformed the USSRT from a union of states into a single republic. On the 27th November 1962, Tabi’atstani President Saveli Anatolyevich Mihaylov Lyudin died of a heart attack. The Politburo quickly moved in to choose a new leader and on the 8th January 1963 Fyodor Yemelyanovich Kozlov (1963-1968) was elected as the new Tabi’atstani President by the Supreme Soviet. Unlike in the Soviet Union, no attempt was made to de-Stalinise the country, although the death of Lyudin did help to lessen tensions between the Soviet Union and the USSRT. When the Iran-Iraq War broke out in 1980, the USSRT immediately took action to support the new Islamic Republic of Iran. Although the USSRT provided weapons and funding to the new Iranian government starting from 1980, it did not take an active role in the war. In 1983, Andrei Gromyko of the Soviet Union visited the USSRT in 1983 to help improve relations between the two countries. The start of the war led to the cooling of relations between the Soviet Union and the USSRT, as the Soviet Union sold weapons and provided support to both sides during the war, and the USSR had sent large numbers of weapons to Iraq in retaliation for the Iranian government’s purging of the Tudeh party. The talks were a minor success, with the Soviet Union again pledging to give the USSRT open access to new Soviet weapons and technologies. On the 26th May 1985, President Boris Dejanovich Yurenev of the USSRT was assassinated by the ultra-nationalist Bordorian group known as the Dragon's Forge in retaliation for TBRE President Arkov’s death in a terrorist attack. A state of emergency was imposed and Minister of Foreign Affairs Behri Ravad Soomekh became interim President. President Patrick Helark of the TBRE and President Soomekh of the USSRT both recognised that the killings of both nations' leaders had led two states to the edge of nuclear war, and both leaders started negotiations for a peace process to de-escalate the situation and eventually end the Cold War in the Toy Islands. In 1991, Tabi’atstani Ambassador to the TBRE Radomir Nazaryn Vedeneyev and President Farnell of the TBRE signed the Memorandum of Understanding Between the TBRE and the USSRT, thus ending the Cold War in the Toy Islands. Relations between the two nations quickly grew in a positive way, and new economic ties were soon fostered. Modern era On the 10th March 2000, the reformist President Yuri Sergeyevich Pashenko came to power, replacing Liu Sutai, who had only served one term before being forced to resign by the Politburo due to his handling of the Barbergen Crisis. Much to the dismay of hardliners within the Tabi’atstani Communist Party, he opened ties with many Western capitalist nations and paved the way for greater freedom of speech within the nation. On the 21st August 2000, President Pashenko proposed to dismantle the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of Tabi'atstan and split it back into numerous different states. On the 21st September, a month before this was due to happen, hardliner politicians supported by the military and most of the government staged a coup in the capital city. Tanks shelled pro-Pashenko offices and several parts of the capital were badly damaged. Pashenko blocked the main road to the Presidential palace in defiance and dared military troops to shoot him. He was thus killed in a hail of fire from regular military troops and GKSB snipers deployed in buildings in the surrounding area, and the USSRT was not split up into many different states. Pashenko was given a state burial, but is considered one of the less respectable politicians in Tabi’atstan history. The result of President Pashenko’s death was a power struggle between the hardliners and reformers in the Tabi’atstani Communist Party. The country also did not have a leader for the first time since the assassination of Boris Dejanovich Yurenev. This instigated the start of the Second Tabi'atstani Civil War when supporters of Pashenko in the southern provinces started an uprising. The war ended in May 2002, when the last of the rebels had been wiped out by the Tabi'atstani Revolutionary Army and the Tabi'atstani Revolutionary Guards. In August 2003, Ethan Yin-Lam Chan was elected President of the USSRT by the Politburo of the Tabi’atstani Communist Party. Chosen for his loyalty to the party and his hard line stance, he quickly demolished most of Pashenko’s reforms and cracked down on reformists and rebels alike. Numerous changes were made to the constitution to give more power to the new President to insure that the hardliners would stay in power. In 2004, the USSRT intervened in the Trevallyland Civil War to prevent the fall of the socialist Trevallyland government. Embroiled in conflict against anti-government rebels in Trevallyland and still recovering from its own civil war, the USSRT was unable to stop the Loiwikese invasion of Parsahbiritum. In the same year, however, Tabi'atstani forces helped TBRE troops capture the international criminal Bladikoff. In 2012, the USSRT signed the Charter of the Coalition of Communist States with East Valreșia, Györmár-Kazvhalia, Krakozhia and Trevallyland to form the Coalition of Communist States (CCS). On the 4th July 2014, the USSRT declared war on NGL, a move that was soon followed by the other four CCS member states as well as Muzaffaridistan. The allied forces launched an amphibious invasion and the USSRT sent airborne troops to Needle City in the Can Cara province, held by the Parsahbiritese Liberation Front. Politics The USSRT is one of the few remaining countries that still describes itself as communist, and is one of five socialist nations in the Toy Islands, with the Communist Party of Tabi'atstan (CPT) being the only legal party in Tabi'atstan. The official state ideology is Chan Yin-Lam Philosophy (陈彦霖哲学), a form of Stalinism with Tabi'atstani characteristics. Although attempts were made by President Yuri Sergeyevich Pashenko towards political liberalisation, such policies were abandoned after the 2001 Civil War. The election of President Ethan Yin-Lam Chan in 2003 resulted in the return of a strong authoritarian style of government and a renewed crackdown on dissidents. Communist party The USSRT is led by the Communist Party of Tabi'atstan (CPT), which holds a monopoly on political power in the USSRT. The electoral system in the USSRT is hierarchical. On paper, local soviets are directly elected whilst all higher level organs are indirectly elected, but votes are easily, and often, manipulated by the state and party. The political system is highly centralised, with few checks on the communist party's power in the government. There are no other legal political parties in the USSRT other than the Communist Party of Tabi'atstan, and its power is enshrined in the Tabi'atstani Constitution of 2003. Government The President of the USSRT is the ceremonial head of state, and serves as a figurehead for the communist party. The Premier of the USSRT is the head of government, and is responsible for organising the Tabi'atstani civil bureaucracy. However, the Premier does not have command authority over the TRA, and is ranked lower than the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, although he is ranked higher than the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. The current President is Ethan Yin-Lam Chan, who also holds the positions of Chairman of the CPT, General Secretary of the Politburo, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission. The current Premier is Abdul Farukh Rahimi. Administrative districts Tabi'atstan is split into 35 provinces, 1 special municipality and 1 closed province. Foreign relations Although it is generally recognised as a great power, other than the occasional denounciation of US policy, the USSRT typically does not interfere in affairs outside of the Toy Islands region. However, a small number of politicians and scholars have suggested that judging by its military strength and its influence over many other Toy Islands states, the country is in fact either a superpower or a potential superpower. The USSRT is a member of numerous different organizations, such as the Alliance of Toy Islands, a supranational union comprising the majority of Toy Islands nations, excluding Rhandona. It is also a founding member of the Coalition of Communist States (CCS), a political, economic and military organization akin to a mix between the Warsaw Pact and Comecon. Since the start of the “Friendly Times” in 1991, the USSRT has tried to maintain good relations with its former enemy the TBRE. Relations have occasionally been strained over human rights abuses in the USSRT, but overall, relations are far better than they were in the Cold War. Relations with the Grand Democratic Republic of Natural Green Land however, are quite poor. The USSRT supports numerous native insurgency groups fighting the NGL government, while NGL supports the People’s Mojahedin of Tabi’atstan in its attempts to overthrow the ruling communist party. Trade relations Territorial disputes Judicial system and law enforcement The USSRT uses civil law with communist legal traditions, with the law branch of the government being the judicial branch. This consists of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Supreme People’s Court, military courts, maritime courts, forestry courts, criminal courts, civil courts and economic courts. The judiciary is part of the executive branch of the government, under the National Revolutionary People’s Assembly. Judges for the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Supreme People’s Court, military courts, maritime courts and the forestry courts are elected by the President and the Supreme Soviet, whilst judges for the criminal courts, civil courts and economic courts are elected by prefecture and city councils. Law enforcement in the USSRT is the responsibility of several different ministries. Although city level police do exist, they are all subservient to the People’s Revolutionary Armed Police (PRAP), and are de facto part of the PRAP. City level police typically wear light blue clothing, and their vehicles are normally white with blue stripes or white with black stripes. The PRAP is also responsible for law enforcement on a national level, and typically handle larger cases and cases that cross provincial borders, even though the USSRT is a unitary state. PRAP members wear dark green military style uniforms, and have a wide range of vehicles, including armored vehicles and anti-aircraft weaponry. This is due to the fact that the PRAP is meant to function as a militia in the case of a foreign invasion. The highest law in the USSRT is the 2003 USSRT Constitution, which lists the rights of USSRT citizens and also dictates how the nation is to be governed. Amendments must be passed by the NPC. Sociopolitical issues Although major economic reforms occurred in the 1980s, and social freedoms were slightly relaxed, political freedoms have come under even stricter control of the government and the communist party. Although the current 2003 constitution promises freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of movement, the right to a fair trial and property rights as part of its list of "basic sapient rights", these rights are routinely ignored by the government, the CPT, and the judiciary of the USSRT, and as such, do not give significant protection to citizens from criminal prosecution by the state. Censorship is routinely used to block criticism of the ruling communist party, and the government has a large cyberwarfare force dedicated to blocking internet webpages considered "harmful to the sanctity of the socialist revolution". The USSRT's human rights record is also a very controversial and is the subject of much international criticism. Many Western governments, foreign press agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have condemned the government of the USSRT and the CPT for flagrant civil rights abuses, such as the use of torture to obtain confessions, the use of the death penalty for a wide range of criminal and political offences, the use of forced labour, and widespread detention of citizens without trail. The USSRT has also been accused of suppressing demonstrations against the government, and of using excessive force in such events. Citizens of the USSRT do not have the right to sell their properties and are not allowed to move to another household without registration to and permission from the government. Although this was originally due to a lack of housing, the system was later developed into another method for the Tabi'atstani government to track citizens movement. Despite the fact that internal passports are also in use, Tabi'atstani citizens generally have freedom to move throughout the country, although getting a permit to leave the country is considerably harder. Military The Tabi'atstani Revolutionary Army (TRA), numbering roughly 4.3 million active soldiers, is the largest military force in the region. The TRA is divided into three main arms, namely the Tabi'atstani Revolutionary Army Ground Force, the Tabi'atstani Revolutionary Navy, and the Tabi'atstani Revolutionary Air Force, and is commanded by the Central Military Commission of the USSRT. There are also several other independent arms of service, including the Tabi'atstani Strategic Missile Troops and the Airborne Troops. Conscription is enforced for all male citizens aged 18-30 and the published military budget is ПР$2.001 trillion (USD$258 billion). The training of conscripts typically lasts up to four and a half months, and another 32 weeks for a person who wishes to be part of a basic specialised unit. Special forces training can take up to five years, and applicants must have both served for at least five years in the military and pass an ideology test. The USSRT is a recognised nuclear state and has a stockpile of 5,882 nuclear weapons. The country also has numerous power projection tools including seven aircraft carriers, a large fleet of submarines, and a substantial number of strategic bombers and airlifters. Furthermore, the USSRT has the support of the four other member nations of the Coalition of Communist States as well as the Ba'athist Republic of Birshatar and the Islamic Republic of Muzaffaridistan, and supports insurgent groups in numerous countries, including those that operate within the borders of its main regional rival, NGL. Military service has been an important tradition in Tabi’atstan since the formation of the first feudal kingdoms in the nation, partially due to the constant warring nature of its Teddy neighbours in the past. Geography The USSRT is the largest country in the Toy Islands in terms of area. Climate Although the majority of the country is composed of deserts, the climate and landscape is extremely varied, ranging from the Arshad mountain ranges in the northeast to the rainforests of Jangalstan province. The southwest is dominated by steep grass covered hills, making it suited for terrace rice farming. The two main rivers are the Zard and Syrost rivers. Biodiversity Owing to its large size and highly varied environment, the USSRT has an extremely high biodiversity, with scientists estimating it to have some 2,017,300 different species of animals and vascular plants. Environmental concerns Since the late 1970s, pollution and environmental degredation have become serious concerns in the USSRT, with environmental laws being poorly enforced and regularly ignored in favour of meeting industrial and agriculture quotas. However, recognising that environmental problems were becoming a serious issue in the country and around the world, the government of the USSRT has made efforts to protect the environment starting in 2011, with several programs being introduced to achieve goals set by the government. Economy The economy of the USSRT is a command economy based on five-year plans. Food and housing are heavily subsidised, whilst education and healthcare are free. Taxation is technically at 0% due to the abolishment of tax collection. In 1984, the government of the USSRT, recognising the need for economic revitalisation, decided to implement reforms such as giving small cash incentives for peasants and workers whose collectives or factories produced more than the state quota, opening up the country to tourism and liberalising the agriculture industry to allow farmers to sell above-quota production at free market prices. Furthermore, the government encouraged citizens to start small privately-owned enterprises to produce consumer goods, as state factories focused mainly on heavy industry and military production. This resulted in a moderate level of economic growth that brought the country out of economic stagnation and has allowed it to stay strong economically to this day, rather than collapse like the Soviet Union did in 1991. Other economic reforms include changes in worker incentives. Previously before 1984, the wages of industrial workers were low and working hours were extremely long. Furthermore, there were few consumer goods to buy with the wages they earned, and any consumer goods that were produced locally were typically of low quality. However, after the reforms, increased wages for increased productivity were introduced and skilled workers were more highly paid than unskilled workers (this was also an attempt to give people an incentive for achieving a higher level of education. However, the system of punishment for absenteeism and laziness remained. After the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding Between the TBRE and the USSRT in 1991, specialist advisors from the TBRE were invited into the USSRT to help develop the high-tech and computer industries in the country. Quite unusually for a communist country, certain small private enterprises were allowed since the start of the revolution, although these were limited to family businesses such as restaurants or shops with less than five branches. Apart from the Tabi'atstani Rouble, Foreign Exchange Certificates (FECs) are also used in the USSRT. Tabi'atstani FECs are pegged to the TBRE Tolar, with one Tabi'atstani FEC being the equivalent of one TBRE Tolar. By law, all Tabi'atstani citizens must convert any western currencies that they possess into FECs, which can then be used at certain shops selling western goods. Infrastructure Energy The majority of Tabi'atstani energy is provided by coal and nuclear powerplants, although there are also a significant number of natural gas electrical plants. In 2011, the government began a program to build large solar farms in the central desert provinces. Being somewhat technological backwards, Tabi'atstani power generation facilities require a comparatively large degree of manual control, and are not connected to state or international intranet or internet networks. Transportation Since its formation, the USSRT has placed great emphasis on transportation, with a large network of highways and railways spaning across the country. Due to the comparatively low level of private car ownership, the country's state-run public transportation networks have become some of the best in the world out of neccessity, and are some of the busiest in the world. Railways and buses are the most popular forms of transport within the country, although there are also a large number of small regional airports dotted throughout the USSRT. Science, Technology and Research Historical The Tabi'amard people were some of the first to build permanent settlements in Tabi'atstan, with the oldest discovered village dating back to around 8,900BC. This was also the first instance of agriculture on the Tabi'atstani continent, with the Tabi'amard growing and harvesting grasses for food. They were soon followed by tribes such as the Ezbath and the Kal'Vei. Modern era Since the founding of the USSRT, science and technology research has been an important part of government policy, with roughly US$110 billion being spent on scientific research and development in 2011. The communist government of the USSRT considers science and technology to be vital to the improvement of the nation, with research typically being related to either the agricultural, industrial, or military sectors. Research funds are acquired via the Ministry of Science and Technology, giving the government a high level of control over the scientific progress of the country. The Tabi'atstani space program is one of the most advanced in the region. On the 11th June 1961, the USSRT launched its first satellite into orbit, called Exploration, which was based on the Soviet Sputnik 1 design. The satellite was launched from a Red Victory 1 rocket, the design of which was based on one of the USSRT’s ICBM designs. Gavril Isayev became the first Tabi'atstani cosmonaut to go to space on the 19th July 1967. Demographics Ethnic groups Tabi'atstan has over eight officially recognised ethnic groups, but the three largest are Persians, Han Chinese and Russians. Languages Although there is no single lingua franca in the USSRT, most Tabi'atstani citizens are able to speak either Farsi Persian, Standard Chinese or Russian, as well as possibly another local language or dialect, with multilingualism being very common. Because of this, the country does not have an official language per se, with each province selecting one or several languages as its provincial official language. However, most provinces include one of the three major languages listed above as one of their official languages. Apart from Farsi, Mandarin and Russian, English is also a commonly spoken language in the USSRT, and is an official language in several provinces. Education Prior to the formation of the USSRT, schools were rare and prohibitively expensive, meaning that typically only the rich were able to afford an education, and that most of the poor peasant class that made up the majority of the population were illiterate. After the formation of the USSRT, the government began a literacy program that sent literacy workers and teachers to the far corners of the country, even to small villages. Currently, the USSRT has one of the best literacy rates in the world, standing at over 99%. Health Health care in the USSRT is free and provided for by the People's Healthcare Service under the Ministry of Health, with the right to free healthcare and access to medical institutions being enshrined in the country's constitution. Since the 1930s, the USSRT has invited foreign medical experts to the country to help develop the healthcare system in the country. The USSRT has a preventative medical healthcare system, meaning that it focuses on health care that prevents disease rather than disease treatment, and since 2011, the Ministry of Health has trialed telecare and telehealth systems for the elderly and the physically disabled. Although exact figures have not been published, the Ministry of Health has stated that the preventative healthcare system currently in place has helped the state save billions of dollars from state reserves. Although a large portion of the population practices Shia Islam, alcoholism has been a problem since the 1950s, and has been blamed for occasional drops in productivity in workplaces such as factories and collective farms. Religion The majority of Tabi'atstani citizens are either Shia Muslims, Roman Catholics or Eastern Orthodox Christians, although there are also a wide number of adherents to other religions. Culture The three ethnic groups that have had the largest effect on Tabi'atstani culture are Persians, Han Chinese and Russians, although other cultural influences are present in Tabi'atstan. The cultural mix of modern Tabi'atstani has been described less as a melting pot and more as a heterogeneous salad bowl, as the three main ethnicities maintain their own distinctive cultural characteristics. The colonisation of Tabi'atstan by the Persians and the Chinese resulted in a sharp decline in traditional Tabi'atstani art styles and the rise of Persian and Chinese culture in Tabi'atstan, although Persian culture is more dominant throughout the Tabi'atstani continent whilst Chinese culture is more limited to the southwestern peninsula. Russian culture is also quite predominant in the USSRT, mainly in the Poseleniskaya and Kalengelsk provinces, as well as in the capital, Qal'eh Manar. Cuisine Tabi'atstani cuisine is highly varied, mirroring the diversity of the country's ethnicities. Rice and bread are featured in many dishes, and are considered the country's main staple foods. A traditional food item in Tabi'atstan is "nan asefneja" (نان اسفنجی), which literally means "sponge bread". This bread can be made on its own, or with various fruits added to the dough, although it is always left to dry and go stale before it is eaten. The word "sponge" in its name is a reference to the fact that it is left to go stale, with the texture similar to that of a dry bath sponge. Architecture Visual arts After the colonisation of Tabi'atstan by Persian and Chinese settlers, Tabi'atstani artists copied their techniques. Although Tabi'atstani painters such as Adiz Mehry Farahani had been weaving carpets and using bright colours derived from mineral-based pigments on pottery since the 5th century BCE, the arrival of the Tang Chinese brought the painting medium of paper, styles such as shanshui (山水) painting, and the idea of the inclusion of literature in paintings. When a copy of Francisco Goya's painting "The Third of May 1808" arrived in Kazemostan in late 1815, it had a profound impact on Tabi'atstani art. Previously, paintings had been used by rulers and victors of conflicts as propaganda to exhibit their great achievements, whilst "The Third of May 1808" showed that painting could also be used to undermine authority. The painting was thus banned by the Kazemostani government, but it had a lasting effect on Tabi'atstani art from then on. In May 1933, President Farshid Khorosani formed the Society of Tabi'atstani Socialist Artists (STSA) to oversee the visual arts in the USSRT. Music and dance In May 1933, following his “Progress for Revolutionary Arts and Creative Works” movement, President Farshid Khorosani created the Organisation of Socialist Realist Composers (OSRP). From then on, musicians had to conform to the style of Socialist Realism and had to represent "the glorious life of the workers of the great socialistic Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of Tabi'atstan", as well as having to praise the achievements of the state. A traditional Tabi'atstani musical instrument is the Ava-e Azar (Voice of Fire), which is a brass instrument. An example of a popular band in Tabi'atstan is "Display" (Дисплей), a Kiev band from the former Soviet Union. The Soviet artist Boris Tihomirov is also very popular in the USSRT, with his song "Electronic Alarm-Clock" (Электронный будильник) being a big hit when it was released in 1985. Literature Tabi'atstan has a rich literary history, and the country has been the birthplace of many famous poets. In ????, the author ?? wrote the Saqqaen Tales, a national epic which chronicles Tabi'atstani history and mythology. In April 1933, the Organisation of Socialist Writers (OSW) was formed to encourage Tabi'atstani writers to produce literature and texts promoting the lives and achievements of the working classes and the state, as well as to maintain control over writers in the USSRT. All Tabi'atstani writers who wish to have their works published in the USSRT must join the OSW. Philosophy Cinema, animation and media Then Vice-President Farshid Khorosani recognised the value of using cinema and the media in indoctrinating the then largely illiterate masses of Tabi'atstan in Marxist ideology, and in August 1927 he asked President Leonid Sergeiyevich Ushakov to create the Union of Proletariat Directors (UPD). Sports National holidays and symbols Category:States Category:Tabi'atstan Category:Alliance of Toy Islands